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Updating and Deleting Articles

When to use this page

Use this guide when you need to:

  • update published or draft content safely,
  • unpublish/delete/trash articles correctly,
  • verify expected outcomes after lifecycle actions.

Publishing

Publishing makes your article visible on the live site. You can publish immediately or schedule it for a future date/time.

Publish now

The article becomes live immediately.

Schedule a publish

Set a future date and time; the article automatically publishes at that moment.

See also: Scheduling Pages

What Happens When You Update An Article

When you update an article, SkyCMS saves your edits to the article record and keeps version history.

If the article is a draft

Expected result:

  • Your content and metadata changes are saved.
  • The article remains unpublished.
  • No live page update happens yet.

If the article is published

Expected result:

  • Your changes are saved.
  • The published output is refreshed.
  • The live page reflects the new content after publish processing completes.

If you change the title

Expected result:

  • The title is updated.
  • URL/title-related routing and redirect behavior is applied by the system.
  • Blogs can also update child post paths when the blog path changes.

If you update a blog

Expected result:

  • Blog metadata is updated.
  • If blog URL path changes, child blog post URLs are updated to match the new blog path.
  • Publish state changes can cascade to posts in that blog.

What Happens When You Unpublish An Article

Unpublishing hides a published article from the live site while keeping the editable content.

Unpublish action

Expected result:

  • The article is hidden from the live site and public views.
  • The article can no longer be accessed by visitors at its URL.
  • You retain the ability to edit the article and re-publish it later.
  • All version history and metadata are preserved.

When to unpublish

Common scenarios:

  • Seasonal content – Hide it when not relevant; re-publish next season.
  • Archived posts – Hide outdated blog posts without losing history.
  • Temporary removal – Hide during maintenance or updates; republish when ready.
  • Content review – Take live content down pending revisions.

Republish unpublished content

To bring an unpublished article back to live:

  1. Open the unpublished article for editing.
  2. Select Publish (immediately or schedule a date).
  3. The article becomes visible on the live site again.

What Happens When You Delete An Article

Deleting uses a soft-delete model and removes public artifacts for that article.

General pages and articles

Expected result:

  • The article is marked deleted in the editor data.
  • Its published page entry is removed.
  • Static output (if enabled) is removed.
  • Site TOC/navigation data is regenerated.

Blog post delete

Expected result:

  • The selected blog post (all versions) is marked deleted.
  • It is no longer treated as active content.

Blog delete

Expected result:

  • Posts in that blog are deleted first.
  • The blog is then deleted.
  • Blog and post content follow the same cleanup behavior as other article deletes.

Home page protection

Important:

  • The root home page cannot be deleted directly.
  • Replace it first, then delete the old page if needed.

What Happens When You Permanently Trash An Article

Trashing is different from deletion. Use it when you are certain an article should be irreversibly removed.

Trash action

Expected result:

  • All versions of the article are permanently removed from the database.
  • All related metadata, locks, and audit logs are removed.
  • Static storage artifacts are deleted.
  • Site TOC is regenerated.
  • This action cannot be undone.

When to trash

Typical scenarios:

  • The deleted article has been in the trash for a retention period and needs final cleanup.
  • An article was created by mistake and should be completely erased from history.
  • Storage or compliance retention policies require permanent removal.

Editor Checklist

After update or delete, verify:

  • The article appears in the expected draft/published state.
  • The live URL renders the expected result (or returns not found after delete).
  • Blog/post URLs still match expected structure after blog title/path changes.